Study stand



M. M. SWAIN STUDY STAND April 19, 1932.

Filed Nov. 5, 1929 s sheets-sheet INVENTOR. NackN Enwair ATTORNEYS.

April 19, 1932.' M.. M. SWAIN STUDY STAND Filed Nov. 5, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR; Mack M. Swain ATTORNEYS.

M. M. SWAIN April 19, 1932.

STUDY STAND Filed Nov. 5, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR Mack M. Swain J'TORNEYS.

Patented Apr. 19, 1932 MACK M. SWAIN, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA STUDY swam) I.

Application filed November The present invention relates to improvements in study stands, and more particularly refers to an improved device for supporting several related books or publications for conjoint reference and reading.

The primary object of this invention is the provision of a study stand for use by Chr1stian Scientists; the same including a collapsible framework with means thereon for supporting a Bible and the Christian Science book Science and Health in an open side by-side relation, so that the same may be read with facility in connection with certain passages to be read therein as outlined in the Christian Science Bible Lesson Quarterly, which is also adapted to be carried by the frame.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved collapsible stand for the purposestated in which the parts will fold neatly and compactly together and are susceptible of being placed a comparatively small, easily transportable case.

A further object of'the invention is to pro vide an improved study stand in which the adjustment and movement of the various parts inay be carried out expeditiously and quickly and in which the various books and publications are retained tightly in place and against accidental folding of. the stand or accidental closing of the books.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention will be more fully described hereinafter and will be more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings, wherein like symbols refer to like or corresponding parts throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an 1mproved study stand constructed according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section taken through the case showing the stand'therein in a collapsed condition. 7 V

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken through the stand.

Figure 4 is a cross section taken on the line 4-4 in Figure 3.

. book holders with 5, 1929 Serial No. 404,984.

Figure 5 is a similar View taken on the line 55 also in Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken through the hinge joint of one of the the book holder in the closed position.

Figure 7 is a vertical sectional view taken through the backing plate for the book holder and one of the book clamps.

F igure 8 is a sectional view taken through the easel clamp.

Figure 9 is a stop, and

Figure 10 is also a perspective View of the improved slide employed.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 11 designates a backing plate or base upon which the booksare adapted to be placed as indicated in'dotted lines in Figure 1.. The lower edge of the plate 11 is reinforced by a stiffening flange 12 and the sides of the plate 11 are similarly reinforced and strengthened by the down-turi1ed stiffening flanges 13. Legs 14 are made to project downwardly from the lower portions of the side fianges 13 and these legs are provided with rubber feet 15 to avoid marring the'desk or supporting surface.

The books are clamped upon the backing plate 11 in any appropriate manner, as by theme of the clamp bars or strips 16, two of which are shown. The strips, as shown in F igures 1 and 7 are provided at their lower ends with offset lugs 17 inserted through openings 18 in the plate 11 and having a hinging movement about the walls of the openings 18 in order to permit the clamp strips 16 to swing toward and from the plate 11 in the act of clamping and releasing the book. In Figure 7, the back of the book or the front cover thereof is indicated at 19 and the book itself at 20. i i

It will be understood that the book placed upon the right hand side of the stand will have its front cover secured beneath the clamping strip 16 so that the book may open outwardly toward the right as shown in dotted lines; whereas the book upon the left side of the stand will be clamped in place by perspective View of the book the engagement of the left clamp strip 16 with the back cover of the book, the front cover and the entire text and body of the book lying above the clamp strip 16 and being free to open toward the left of the device.

The upper ends of the clamp strip 16 are offset downwardly and provided with tabs 21 which project beyond the upper edge of the plate 19 for the purpose of affording a grasp in the act of manipulating thestrip 16.

The side flanges 13 of the base plate 11 are adapted to hingedly receive the book stops 22 and the book holders 23. The book stops 22 are more particularly shown in Figure 9 and they consist of thin, flat plates of metal or other appropriate material having recesses 24 in the inner edges thereof adapted to register with companion recesses 25 in the flanges 13 when the stops 22 are in the elevated position shown in Figure 6 to admit the spring rod 26.

The stop plate 22 is provided with arms 27 having eyes 28 received about the hinge pintle 29 which is carried by each flange 13. The arms 27 are formed with extension pieces 30 projecting beyond the eyes 28 and adapted to cooperate with stop lugs 31 bent inwardly from the flanges 13.

The book holders 23 may be of an ornamental nature as they are adapted to swing over in front of the book and tend to close the book and hold the book in closed position upon the stand. Such book holders 23 may be made from a piece ofsheet metal or other appropriate material and the same are carried by flanges 32 having rolled eyes 33 for engaging about the hinged pintles 29. Stop lugs 34 are also carried by the flanges 32 for engaging against theinner sides of the flanges 13 when the book holders are in the open position shown in Figure 5.

The two opposed flanges 32 of the pair of book holders 23 are coupled by the rods 26 to a spring tension device of any suitable construction but preferably composed of a coil spring 35 and rods 36 and 37 passing freely through the coil helix 35 and hav ng hooked ends 38 and 39 respectively engaging against opposite end convolutions' of the spring 35; whereby when the rods 36 and 37 are drawn apart, the spring 35 will be compressed and when moved together will allow of the expansion of the spring 35.

The rods 26 are formed into hooks 40 i which engage through perforations 41in the flanges 32 of the book holders 23. Slots 42, shown in Figure 3, are provided in the flanges 32 between the stop lugs 34 to permit free play of the rods 26.

A pamphlet retainer is supported at the top of the book holder and the same is shown more particularly in Figures 1, 3 and 4 to be composed of a plate or backing 43 having flanges 44 projecting downwardly from its lower end portions and forming supports for the legs 45 by which the pamphlet retainer is pivoted to the base plate 11 of the book holder. The pivots of this joint are shown at 46 and they pass through the legs 45 and through down-turned lugs 47 on the base plate 11.

The plate 43 is provided with rounded upper and lower spaced transverse strips or guides 48 and 49 which support the channel guide strips 50 at the sides of the pamphlet retainer spaced above the plate 43. A web or belt 51 of some opaque material is secured in endless fashion about the plate and about the transverse end strips 48 and 49 thereof with the side edges of the web 51 fitting slidingly through the channel guide strips 50. Between the upper run of this web 51 and the plate 43 is a pocket open at the sides to receive a pamphlet which is exposed through the window 52 in the web 51. The window 52 is preferably made in a metallic rectangular frame 53 to which the web is secured. A slide 54 is mounted in the frame 53, such slide being shown in Figures 1, 4 and 10.

This slide 54 will be movable in the opening 52 and will preferably be of a size equal to about one-half the size of the frame 53 whereby to obscure one side or the other of the pamphlet received in the pocket of the retainer.

As shown in Figure 10, guide flanges 55 are provided on the under side of the slide 54 for engaging beneath the sides of the frame 53 to guide the slide in its movement and to prevent it from becoming disassociated from the frame 53. A knob 56 on the slide 54 will provide for its convenient manipulation.

The pamphlet retainer may be held in the elevated position, shown in Figures 1 and 3, by an approprlate easel. The easel shown is made from a single length of wire formed into the legs 57 connected at their lower ends by a cross bar 58 and at their upper ends bent outwardly to provide the offset members 59, the shoulders 60 and the terminal trunnions 61 which fit into the perforated ears 62 projecting down from the plate 43 and preferably set inwardly from such plate. The legs 57, as shown in Figure 8, are slidable through guide sleeves 63 upon an adj usting plate 64 having the upstanding perforated ears 65 at the sides thereof and having a stop lug 66 in the intermediate portion thereof. Trunnions 67 on a locking bar 68 are mounted in the openings of the ears 65. The lower edges of the locking bar 68 are adapted to enter through cut-away portions 69 in the sleeves 63 and jam against the legs 57 to hold the device in the adjusted position.

The locking plate 68 is arrested in locked position by the stop lug 66 and it is manipulated by the flange 70 connecting with the bar 68. A transverse sleeve 71 is secured to the plate 64 at the side opposite the stop lug 66, this sleeve 71 being adapted to hingedly receive a cross bar 72 of a yoke having legs 73 for swivelly carrying the adjusting plate 64. The legs 73 of the yoke extend up to a point in rear of the backing plate 11 where they are provided with out-turned terminal ends 74 to engage in perforated ears 7 5 bent downwardly from said backing plate 11.

In the use of the device, books are placed at the right and left hand side of the frame, as shown in Figure l, and a pamphlet is inserted in the pocket of the pamphlet retainer. Preferably the three correlated books before mentioned are employed, but it will be understood that the device may be useful in connection with other books, periodicals and pamphlets. Where the books heretofore mentioned are employed, the Bible and the book entitled Science and Health are clamped upon the book holding plate 11 and the Christian Science Quarterly is opened at the page desired, doubled back upon itself with the front cover and back together and the pamphlet thus folded is inserted into the pocket.

A portion of the pamphlet at one sldeof the slide 54 will beexposed through the window 52. This passage is read in connection with coordinate passages in the Bible and in Science and Health. The web 51 is shifted downwardly of the page of the pamphlet as the reading progresses, thus lowering the window 52 in order to expose the fresh text. The movement of the web 51 is accomplished through the handle or knob 56. This knob also provides for shifting the slide 54 back and forth to expose now one side of the page of the pamphlet and again the opposite SIClG.

When the books are in the open position shown in dotted lines in Figure 1, one ofthe covers will, of course, be clamped against the backing plate 11 by the clamping strips 16 while the other cover will swing down and engage the book holder 23, the back of the book being held. upon, and supported by, the book stop 22. In the open position, the parts will assume the position shown in Figure 5, with the flanges 30 and 31 engaged and with the flanges 34 resting against the flanges 13. The spring 35 will tend to hold the parts in this open position. When the reading is over the books are simply closed by hand and the book holders 2?) are rotated about the pintles 29 in opposite directions. This motion will first tend to compress the spring 85. j

It will be noted that the rods 26, are below the pintles 29 as shown in Figure 5; but shown in Figure 6 the rods 26 get above the pintles 29 on the final. closing movement of the book holders 23. Thus the spring 35 in its tendency to expand will lock thebook holders in the closed position about the books and this closed action of the book holders 23 will be further maintained by the engage ment of the spring flanges 76 against the flange 12 at the lower edge of the backing plate 11. In the closing movement, the flanges 32 will engage the book rests 22 and swing the same to the closed position against the back of the book and will maintain the same closed until manually opened.

As shown in Figure 2, the device is susceptible of being folded into small compass and placed in a case. This case is composed of a bottom 77, closed sides78 and a closed end 79 with a swinging top 80 hinged at 81 to the upper end of the closed end wall 79; and with a closed front wall 82 hinged at its lower end as indicated at 83 to the forward edge of the bottom 77. Catch parts 84L and 85 are provided upon the hinged front wall 82 and the hinged top 80 in order to secure the case closed when the device is ready for transportation, the front wall 82 having a handle 86 by which the case and the contained device may be carried about.

It will be noted that the pamphlet retainer will hinge down into parallelism closely back of the plate 11 and the easel support will fold together between the plate 11 and the pamphlet retainer. By adjusting the plate'64 up and down on the easel support, the pamphlet holder may be maintained at any desired angular relation to the book holder, and this relation may be preserved by the locking device 68 which is opened each time an adjustment is to be made.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction and design of the above specifically described embodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of the following claims.

' WVhat is claimed is 1. A study stand comprising a book support, clamp means for holding the book to the support, a folding book stop on the support, and a folding book holder for tending to support the book in the open position and for holding the book in the closed position.

2. A study stand comprising a book support, a clamp for securing the book upon the book support, a hinged book stop on the support for engaging the back of the book, stop means for said book stop, and a hinged and spring-pressed book holder hingedly secured to said support for partially sustaining the book in the open position and for holding the book in the closed position. 3. A study stand comprising a backing plate, a pamphlet retainer hinged to said backing plate, and an easel support for the pamphlet retainer connected to the pamphlet retainer and to the plate and adapted to fold together between the backing plate and pamphlet retainer.

4. A study stand comprising a backing plate, a pamphlet retainer hinged to the backing plate and adapted to fold into parallelism therewith, an easel support comprising parts pivoted to said pamphlet retainer and to said backing plate and to one another and adapted to fold together between the backing plate and pamphlet retainer.

5. A study stand comprising a backing plate, a pamphlet retainer pivoted to the backing plate, an easel support comprising a part pivoted to the pamphlet retainer, a second part pivoted to the backing plate, an adjusting plate pivoted to said second part and slidable on the first part, and means on the plate to lock the two parts against relative longitudinal motion.

6. In a study stand the combination of a plate, spaced guides on the plate, and an endless Web extending about said plate and guides and forming a pamphlet receiving pocket with the plate, said Web having a Window and a slide in said Window.

7. A study stand comprising a flanged backing plate, book clamps thereon, book rest hinged to the flanges of the plate, book holders also hinged to said flanges, and a common spring means extending across beneath said backing plate and secured to said book holders for retaining the same yieldably in open or in closed position.

8. A study stand comprising a backing plate, a hinged clamp secured to said backing plate, a stop plate hinged at the side of the plate, a flanged book holder also hinged at the side of the plate and yieldable means for holding the book holder either in the open or the closed position.

MACK M. SWAIN. 

